Recent research suggests that self-employment among immigrants is due to a combination of multiple situational, cultural and institutional factors, all acting together. By using multilevel regression and unique data on the entire population of Sweden for the year 2007, this study attempts to quantify the relative importance for the self-employed of embeddedness in ethnic contexts (country of birth) and regional business and public regulatory frameworks (labour market areas). This information indicates whether the layers under consideration are a valid construct of the surroundings that influence individual self-employment.The results show that 10 % (female) and 8% (men) of the total variation in individual differences in self-employment can be attributed to country of birth. When labour market areas are included in the analyses the share of the total variation increases to 14 % for women and 12 % for men. The results show that the ethnic context and the economic environment play a minor role in understanding individual differences in self-employment levels. The results can have important implications when planning interventions or other actions focusing on self-employment as public measures to promote self-employment often are based on geographic areas and ethnic contexts.2

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of ability, desire and opportunity on the individual’s intention to be self-employed. Design/methodology/approach The authors created a database from Swedish national registers consisting of all individuals residing in Sweden sometime during the period 1997-2010 and selected all 333,001 full sibling pairs, 12,810 maternal half sibling pairs and 15,944 paternal half sibling pairs. Three types of entrepreneurs were defined based on information from the Swedish Tax Register. The authors divided the intention to be self-employed into ability and desire and defined ability as a genetic factor and desire as a common family factor. A classical twin model was used to separate the variance of the outcome variables into genetic, common and unshared environmental factors. Findings The study demonstrates that the influence from opportunity on the intention to be self-employed is generally strong and that all factors, ability, desire and opportunity, differ, both in size and content, for the three outcomes of entrepreneurs. Originality/value The authors divide self-employment into three distinct company types, which enables a sophisticated additive genetic analysis of the ability, desire and opportunity to be self-employed. The authors contribute to the understanding of why individuals become self-employed by examining the influences from internal and external factors of family on the intentions of self-employment.

No abstract

No abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence that family factors have on an individual’s intention to be self-employed. Design/methodology/approach – The authors selected, from Swedish national registers, all full siblings born between 1945 and 1960 and their biological children, who were born before 1985. The authors created one family database consisting of male individuals (n=1,204,436) and one family database consisting of female individuals (n=1,349,904). The authors defined the outcome variable during the years 2003-2010. Separate analyses were conducted for each of the four outcome variables: all self-employed individuals, owners of limited liability companies, sole traders and hybrids. The authors used multi-level logistic analysis for this study. Findings – The study demonstrates that the influence that family factors have on an individual’s choice of company type is strong; however, it varies depending on intentions transferred within the family. Originality/value – The authors divide self-employment into three distinct parts based on the company type, which enables a sophisticated analysis of self-employed individuals and of the transference of intentions to be self-employed within families. The authors contribute to the understanding of why individuals become self-employed by examining the impact of family factors on the intention of an individual to choose different types of company.